Therapeutic Nanoparticles: Recent Developments and Their Targeted Delivery Applications

The effective delivery of drugs to the targeted tissues or cells has always been a cause of concern. Nanotechnology has emerged as an effective tool to solve this problem of targeted drug delivery. The development of nanoparticle drug delivery systems is a revolutionary step in the healthcare domain. Nanoparticles loaded with drugs, known as nanomedicines, are used to achieve site-specific delivery of drugs that reduces the amount of required dose and, hence, toxicity. The nanoparticles, due to their small sizes, can easily cross the cell barriers. Also, the surface of the nanoparticles can be modified in such a way that it can be recognized by the molecules on the targeted cells. The addition of ligands, antibodies, aptamers, etc., is done to modify the surface. Therefore, these nanoparticle drug delivery systems are used to obtain targeted delivery of drugs, controlled delivery, biocompatibility, low toxicity and degradation within acceptable time period. The novel drug delivery techniques involving nanoparticles are designed to improve the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of drugs. Nowadays, metallic as well as biodegradable nanoparticles are used as effective drug carriers for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, brain related disorders and so on. Metallic nanoparticles are obtained by the reduction of metallic ions from their solutions to the nano-size range. Of the metallic nanoparticles, Gold is studied very extensively due to its inert nature and relatively high biocompatibility than other metals. Biodegradable nanoparticles are synthesized from polymeric substances such as polylactic acid (PLA), gelatin, chitosan, etc. Some other examples of nanoparticles are dendrimers, liposomes, carbon-based, viral based, etc.